Interim leader Moran named Valley Hospital CEO

A veteran health care administrator has been hired as CEO of Valley Hospital.

Tim Moran takes over the Spokane Valley hospital as part of a new leadership team that will lead the Rockwood Health System.

Moran has been the interim CEO of the 123-bed Valley Hospital since July.

The hospital …

A veteran health care administrator has been hired as CEO of Valley Hospital.

Tim Moran takes over the Spokane Valley hospital as part of a new leadership team that will lead the Rockwood Health System.

Moran has been the interim CEO of the 123-bed Valley Hospital since July.

The hospital has reversed course in recent years to become a profitable center for the Rockwood system and parent company Community Health Systems Inc.

Moran has worked in California, Oregon and South Carolina and overseas in Saudi Arabia. His appointment was effective Monday.

Penney’s largest investor selling stake in company

NEW YORK – J.C. Penney’s largest investor, former board member William Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management, is selling his nearly 18 percent stake in the company.

The move to sell 39.1 million shares of the company, announced in a regulatory filing, comes two weeks after Ackman resigned from J.C. Penney’s board. That was part of a deal to resolve an unusually public battle between the activist investor and the struggling department store operator.

The planned sale comes as Penney is trying to recover from a botched transformation plan spearheaded by former CEO Ron Johnson and resulted in disastrous results.

The news sent shares down nearly 3 percent to $13 per share in after hours-trading after closing down 15 cents to $13.35 in the regular session.

Source of Starbucks brew to get first company cafe

SEATTLE – After buying coffee from Colombia for decades, Starbucks Corp. said Monday it plans to open its first cafe there next year. It will be the chain’s 63rd country.

The espresso and drip coffee sold at Starbucks’ Colombian stores will be roasted in that country, something Starbucks also does in India.

In Colombia, the coffee will be roasted at a facility in Medellin that currently roasts and manufactures Starbucks’ instant coffee, Via. It is operated by a subsidiary of Grupo Nutresa, which will run Starbucks’ cafes in Colombia with a company called Alsea.

Starbucks also announced it and USAID will each contribute $1.5 million to increasing Colombian coffee yields and enhancing economic opportunities for Colombian farmers.

“It will allow us to extend our reach to some more rural areas of Colombia,” said Cliff Burrows, who heads Starbucks’ operations for the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

BATS Global Markets purchasing Direct Edge

The new company will account for about 21 percent of the approximately 6.5 billion shares traded daily on exchanges, according to BATS. It would leapfrog over the Nasdaq and rank behind the New York Stock Exchange.

The combination is “an important milestone for the U.S. equities market,” said BATS CEO Joe Ratterman, who will serve as CEO of the merged company.

The deal is part of a trend of consolidation among global stock exchanges. The four U.S. stock exchanges run by BATS and Direct Edge will continue to operate.